\u00b7 We serve a\ngracious Master, who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and\nour own advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 I am\npersuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of\nChrist and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Satan will\npreach free grace when he finds people willing to believe the notion, as an excuse\nand a cloak for idleness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 We are\nnever more safe, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without\nChrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 \u201cNone\nbut Jesus<\/em>!\u201d is my motto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 One, \u2018Thus\nsays the Lord,<\/em>\u2019 ought to have more weight and authority with us than a\nthousand arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Persecution\nhas hurt its thousands\u2026\u2026Popularity has slain its ten thousands!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Beware of\nthe world! It is thorny, deceitful and treacherous! Those who are very much\nengaged in it will find their troubles multiplied with every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 I have\nread of many wicked popes, but the worst pope I ever met with is POPE self!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 If you\ntruly love Him; then you will study to please Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Every drop\nof rain hits its appointed target!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 If I may\nspeak of my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply upon Christ, as\nmy peace and my life; is by far the hardest part of the Christian life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Self-righteousness\ncan feed upon doctrines as well as upon works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 A minister\nmay be diligent in his work, regular in his family, attentive to his people,\nand in many respects exemplary in his outward conduct; and yet not preach Jesus\nChrist and Him crucified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 I want\nnothing of that \u2018knowledge\u2019 which has NOT a tendency to make sin more hateful\nand Jesus more precious to my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Lord, save\nus from our golden calves!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 May Christ\nbe our theme in the pulpit and in the parlor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 My heart\nis vile, and even my prayers are sin. My soul is very sick; but my Physician is\ninfallible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 My hope is\nbuilt, not upon frames and feelings, but upon the atonement and mediation of\nJesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 The\nChristian knows that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings are\nappointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good;\nand that grace and strength shall be given him according to his\nneed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpts from John Newton<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in\nall things, and sure.” \u20132 Samuel 23:5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n O the blessedness of having a manifest interest in the blood of\nthe covenant, and thus to have a testimony that God has made a covenant with\nhis dear Son upon our behalf; that our names are written in the book of life;\nand that Christ is our Mediator at the right hand of the Father! What are all\nearthly blessings compared with this? What are health and strength and riches\nand all the goods of this life; what is everything that the carnal heart can\ndesire or the covetous mind grasp; what is all compared with an interest in the\neverlasting covenant, and in the love and blood and righteousness of the Lord\nthe Lamb? What is earth, with all its attractions, compared with an interest in\nthe precious, precious blood of a dying Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will find it so when you come to lie upon a bed of\nlanguishing and pain; when the cold drops of sweat stand upon your forehead,\nand the last enemy is about to grasp you by the throat. What will your anxious\nstrivings to have something and be something more than you have or are\u2014aye, I\nmay add, your successes\u2014what will they do for you then? Only be so many ghastly\nspectres of the past to terrify and alarm your conscience, to see what shadows\nyou have been seeking to grasp to the neglect of solid substance. But in that\nsolemn hour to have a testimony from God of pardon and peace, will make smooth\na dying bed, will calm all anxious fears, and will take you safely through the\ndark valley of the shadow of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grand object of the eye of faith!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Charles Spurgeon)<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We fix our eyes not on what is seen\u2014but on what is unseen.\nFor what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!” 2\nCorinthians 4:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part\u2014to be\nlooking forward. Forward lies the crown\u2014and onward is the goal. Whether it is\nfor hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love\u2014the future\nmust, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking into the future\u2014the Christian sees sin cast out, the\nbody of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a\npartaker of eternal glory. Looking further yet, the believer’s enlightened eye\ncan see death’s river passed. He sees himself . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n enter within the pearly gates,<\/p>\n\n\n\n hailed as more than conqueror,<\/p>\n\n\n\n crowned by the hand of Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n embraced in the arms of Jesus,<\/p>\n\n\n\n glorified with Him, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n made to sit together with Him on His throne!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contemplation of my glorious future may well relieve,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the darkness of the past, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n the gloom of the present!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of\nearth!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hush, hush, my fears!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Death is but a narrow stream\u2014and you shall soon have forded it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Death\u2014how brief! Immortality\u2014how endless!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Time\u2014how short! Eternity\u2014how long!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In the future, there is reserved for me the crown of\nrighteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day;\nand not only to me\u2014but to all those who have loved His appearing!” 2\nTimothy 4:8<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Let Israel hope in the Lord\u2014for with the Lord there is\nmercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.” \u2013Psalm 130:7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” Has she ceased to hope\nin the creature? Does she despair of salvation from any other source or quarter\nbut the blood of the Lamb? Is she crying, sighing, longing, panting, and\nbegging of the Lord to appear in her soul? “Let Israel,” then, “hope\nin the Lord\u2014for with the Lord there is mercy.” He will not spurn his\nwaiting Israel from his feet; he will not smite her with the lightnings of his\nwrath; he will show mercy to the poor, guilty sinner that comes with dust upon\nhis head, clothed with sackcloth and ashes, mourning and lamenting his vileness\nbefore the Lord. There is no wrath in the bosom of the Lord against him; there\nis mercy, pardoning mercy in the bosom of Jehovah for Israel; therefore\n“let Israel hope in the Lord.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Israel looks to herself, she cannot have one grain of hope;\nif she looks to the law, she cannot have one ray of expectation; or if she\nlooks to an arm of flesh, none can do her good. But if Israel looks “to\nthe hills from whence comes her help”\u2014to God the Father, in his electing\nlove\u2014to God the Son, in his redeeming blood\u2014to God the Spirit, in his\nsanctifying work; if Israel is thus enabled to anchor within the veil, thus to\n“hope in the Lord,” her hope shall not be cut off, shall not be\ndisappointed; it shall not be as “the hope of the hypocrite,” a\nspider’s web, that the first gust of eternal displeasure shall forever sweep\naway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE CLOSING BENEDICTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n John MacDuff<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He comes\nshall find watching.” \u2014Luke 12:37<\/p>\n\n\n\n Church of God! is this your attitude, as the expectant of your\nLord’s appearing? Are your loins girded, and your lights burning? If the cry\nwere to break upon your ears this day, “Behold the Bridegroom comes,”\ncould you joyfully respond\u2014”Lo, this is my God, I have waited for\nhim”? WHEN He may come, we cannot tell\u2014ages may elapse before then. It may\nbe centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a Millennial sun;\nbut while He may or may not come soon, He must come at some time\u2014yes, and the\nday of our death is virtually to all of us, the day of His coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reader! do not put off the solemn preparation. Do not be\ndeceived or deluded with the mocker’s presumptuous challenge, “Where is\nthe promise of His coming?” See to it that the calls of an engrossing\nworld does not foster this procrastinating spirit. It may be now or never with\nyou. Do not put off your sowing time until harvest time. Leave nothing for a\ndying hour, but to die, and calmly to resign your spirit into the hands of\nJesus. Of all times, that is the least suitable to attempt to get the vessel\nfilled\u2014to attend to the great business of life when life is ebbing\u2014to trim the\nlamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in its socket\u2014to begin to watch,\nwhen the summons is heard to leave the watchtower to meet our God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Were you never struck how often, amid the many gentle words of\nJesus, the summons “to watch,” is over and over repeated, like a\nsuccession of alarm-bells breaking ever and anon, amid chimes of heavenly\nmusic, to rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let this last “Word” of your Lord’s send you to your\nknees with the question\u2014”Am I indeed a servant of Christ?” Have I\nfled to Him, and am I reposing in Him, as my only Savior?\u2014or am I still\nlingering like Lot, when I should be escaping?\u2014sleeping, when I should be\nwaking?\u2014neglecting and trifling, when “a long eternity is lying at my\ndoor?” He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him\u2014all is lost!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Believer! you who are standing on your watchtower, be more\nfaithful than ever at your post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no\ndreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the heart\u2014wakeful\nvigilance regarding sin\u2014every avenue and loophole of the soul carefully\nguarded. Holy living is the best, the only, preparative for holy dying.\n“Persuade yourself,” says Rutherford, “the King is coming. Read\nHis letter sent before Him, ‘Behold I come quickly;’ wait with the wearied\nnight-watch for the breaking of the Eastern sky.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let these “Words of Jesus” we have now been meditating\nupon in this little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the\nvestments of the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His\nspiritual Israel\u2014telling that the true High Priest is still living and pleading\nin “the Holiest of all;” and that soon He will come forth to pour His\nblessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in gathering,\nup a few “crumbs” falling, from “the Master’s table.” Soon\nwe shall have, not the “Words” but the presence of Jesus\u2014not the\ncrumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the Master\nHimself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Grace of Election!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n C.H.Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no difference, by nature, between the elect and\nothers\u2014those who are now glorified in heaven, and who walk the golden streets,\ndressed in robes of purity, were by nature as unholy and defiled, and as far\nfrom original righteousness, as those who, by their own rejection of Christ,\nand by their love of sin, have brought themselves into the pit of eternal\ntorment, as a punishment for their iniquities. The only reason why there is a\ndifference between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell, rests\nwith divine grace, and with divine grace alone. Those in heaven must inevitably\nhave been cast away, had not everlasting mercy stretched out its hand and\nredeemed them. They were by nature not one bit superior to others. They would\nas certainly have rejected Christ, and have trodden under foot the blood of\nJesus, as did those who were cast away, if grace\u2014free grace\u2014had not prevented\nthem from committing this sin. The reason why they are Christians is not\nbecause they naturally willed to be one, nor because they did by nature desire\nto know Christ, or to be found of him; but they are now saints simply because\nGod made them so. He gave them the desire to be saved; he put into them the\nwill to seek after him; he helped them in their seekings, and afterward brought\nthem to feel that peace which is the fruit of justification. But by nature they\nwere just the same as others; and if there is any difference, we are obliged to\nsay that the difference does not lie in their favor. In very many cases, we who\nnow “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” were the very worst of men!\nThere are multitudes that now bless God for their redemption who once cursed\nhim; who implored, as frequently as they dare to do, with oaths and swearing,\nthat the curse of God might rest upon their fellow men and upon themselves.\nMany of the Lord’s anointed were once the very castaways of Satan, the\nsweepings of society, the refuse of the earth, those whom no man cares for, who\nwere called outcasts, but whom God has now called desired ones, seeing he has\nloved them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Therefore brethren, give diligence to make your calling\nand election sure; for if you do these things, you shall never fall.” \u20132\nPeter 1:10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you any testimony to your effectual calling? Has grace\nindeed laid hold of your heart? O that you might know more fully\u2014more\npowerfully\u2014what a blessed hope of eternal life is laid up in the bosom of this\nheavenly calling, that it might cheer and encourage you to press on more and\nmore to realize all that is given you in Christ, both for here and hereafter,\nin present grace and in future glory! In knowing what is the hope of their\neffectual calling, the saints of God learn that this hope embraces all things\nwhich are made theirs in Christ, whether life or death, or things present or\nthings to come, that all are theirs; and for this blessed and all-sufficient\nreason, that they are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. It is by making sure our\ncalling that we make sure our election\u2014for the one is the sure evidence of the\nother; and thus, if doubt and uncertainty hang over our calling, the same doubt\nand uncertainty must rest upon our election to eternal life. But as these\ndoubts and fears are removed by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the\nknowledge of Christ, and we can clearly see and fully believe that the grace of\nGod effectually called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, then we see\nby faith what is laid up in the bosom of this calling, and what a glorious hope\nof eternal life is thereby afforded as an anchor of the soul, both sure and\nsteadfast, and thus abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00b7 We serve a gracious Master, who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage. \u00b7 I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master. \u00b7 Satan will preach free grace when he finds people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5894,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5893\/revisions\/5894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}